Quartet
by Merlin Missy
Summary: Lois and Lex are tired of playing this game. Post ep for 'Hereafter.' Remix of M. Scott Eiland's 'Six Bits' for Remix Redux IV.


Quartet (The Barbershop Remix)  
A Justice League / Smallville crossover  
by Merlin Missy  
Copyright 2006  
PG

* * *

Remix of "Six Bits" by M. Scott Eiland for Remix Redux IV. 

Summary: Post-Hereafter. Lois and Lex are tired of playing this game. Thanks to Dotfic for the beta.

* * *

_Prado, ten a.m._

Mercy Graves had delivered the message personally, a smirk on her face. Lois hadn't bothered attempting to return a fake smile.

Barely a month had passed since Lex had received his Presidential pardon for his crimes, barely a month since Mercy, despite Lex's public statements to the contrary, had to go back to her life as Lex's bodyguard, chauffeur, and personal lapdog, and that from being in charge of Lexcorp. Lois didn't like Mercy, and so she didn't feel bad for her, but at the same time, she knew it had to sting.

Lois sat back in her chair, glancing around the office, her eyes drawn to Clark's empty chair. He'd called last night, leaving a message on Perry's voicemail, a hasty excuse and a promise to be there early this morning, and now it was nine-thirty.

"I have the car," said Mercy. Maybe she followed Lois' glance, maybe Lex had already told her, maybe she was just being a bitch.

"Let me get my coat."

* * *

Lex had a table, had probably been sitting and waiting for her since Mercy left him there. As Lois approached him, the waiter removed an empty glass from the table and replaced it with two more. Lex stood, allowed Lois to sit, and indicated the drink in front of her. 

"Too early," she said, waving casually and setting her purse next to her on the table.

"It's orange juice, with a splash of grenadine."

Her eyes flickered to him, and then she took a tentative taste. Just how she liked it. "Thanks."

Sometimes, no _usually_, it was awkward with Lex. The dating thing, the kidnaping and trying to kill her in multiple realities thing. Up until the Justice Lords had come to their reality, he'd been a felon, spending more time than not on the run from the law. And she'd told him she'd hated him just two days ago, and then sobbed into his arms for the man they'd both lost. These added up to what could be burning embarrassment.

Lois sipped her juice. "So. You saw the news." The headline for the morning edition had taken up two thirds of the space above the fold. The picture had eaten the rest.

"I can't say I'm sorry to see him back," Lex said, playing with his own glass. "I should. He's thwarted me so often, and ... " He broke off.

Lex leaned back in his chair. Out through the large window, people strolled by, and maybe they were a little more excited this morning than they had been in days, or maybe that was just Lois' heart coloring her vision again.

"This morning. Did Clark call the office?" Lex's eyes didn't stray from the window as he asked.

Lois finished her drink without replying. She knew she didn't need to.

"Did Clark ever tell you how we met?" he asked quietly.

"No."

A smile spread across his face, and not for the first time, Lois saw the second-handsomest man she'd ever turned down. Bruce hadn't come to the funeral, she remembered, and that was all Bruce's damage in one package.

"I was young and stupid. My father banished me to a small town to hide me away from my own worst nature. A prince in exile. And I still had too many women and drank too much and drove too fast, and one day I crashed my car and Clark saved my life. I thanked him, a thousand ways I thanked him, and we were friends. But because I was who I am, and because he was ... " He sighed. "We hurt each other. Too much."

"How long have you suspected?"

"Since that first day, but I never had anything definite. And you?"

Lois frowned. "Off and on. For a long time. I don't like being played." Again, she thought of Bruce, and she wanted to take a drink to cover her discomfort but her glass was empty.

"You're his friend," said Lex, and then he watched the emotions she wasn't good at hiding scribble themselves all over her face. "Maybe more."

"No," she said. "But I would be. What about you? You keep harping on this new leaf you've turned. Are you his friend?"

"I haven't decided." Lois suspected he was telling the truth.

"We'll go together," she said. "The game's over. If he wants to keep playing it, we need to tell him we're done. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Lex signaled for the waiter and paid the bill, and they walked out of the restaurant to where Mercy waited with the car.

Clark's apartment building was three blocks from the restaurant. With traffic, they could have walked faster, and the pause gave Lois time to have her doubts. She'd had this hunch before, only to be deterred. How many times would Clark have to prove her wrong before she accepted it? The little voice inside her head, the same one that got her into trouble on leads and also got her name on the bylines, told her she never would stop, because she knew she was right.

At the same time, Lex was Superman's worst enemy, other than _maybe_ Darkseid. Her own suspicions could easily destroy any chance of Clark's having a normal life, of protecting his parents and friends from the supervillains in his daily life. Lex had the power to make Clark's life hell.

Yet he'd always suspected, he'd said. And he'd never used the suspicion. In fact, there was a wistfulness when he spoke of Clark. Now that she considered it, there always had been.

Lois had seen the two of them as allies once in another universe. Now she wondered what might have been had they managed to live as friends in this one.

Mercy stayed down with the car. Lois still didn't know if she knew.

The elevator ride was quiet. Lois fought the trembles until the door slid open,then took the lead to Clark's door. They had to face him, had to tell him. And no matter his excuse, they had to make him understand they were there for him, Lois as whatever he would allow her to be, Lex as an unknown but perhaps no longer an enemy.

She pressed his doorbell, heart racing. A minute passed, two, and she pressed it again.

The door swung open, and Clark stood there, blinking in the light. His glasses were askew, and he wore pajamas and a robe, and he'd been gone less than a week.

"You two aren't exactly who I was expecting to be standing outside my door."

Lois raised an eyebrow and replied, "We've all had a lot of nasty surprises to deal with in the last few days, Clark." She barged in past him without being invited. "So are you just going to stand there or come in, Lex?"

"I was hoping for an invitation, actually -- as a courtesy to an old friend, of course." Lois' mouth quirked; so he was declaring himself a friend after all. Interesting.

Clark inclined his head and replied, "Come in, Lex."

Lex walked past Clark and stood next to her. Lois wondered if Lex had seen the picture in the paper: Superman returned from the dead, clad in furs and sporting a whole new look.

Clark stood before them, hair past his shoulders and a black, shaggy beard on his face. Also a look of complete and carefully-calculated innocence.

"What?"

This was going to be fun.

* * *

The End

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End file.
